Him
by Vergina-spva
Summary: Marco doesn't feel like he can live a happy life again, after some family members died. His brother thinks differently and tries to help him, but his attempts only seem to have a backwards effect. Will the purchase of an Operating System, someone he can really talk to, make any difference? Hyper modern/sci-fi AU, written for the MarcoAce week, day 3 and 4. Rated M for smut.
1. Chapter 1

_This is my contribution to the MarcoAce week (on tumblr) for day 3. The theme of this day was 'modern AU', which I took quite broadly, as in hyper-modern/sci-fi-ish. It comes in two parts, the second part is for day 4 of the MarcoAce week (that day's theme is 'angst'), but will probably not be finished tomorrow, since I also have a deadline for a school assignment that day. (So be patient, it will be there a few days later.)_

_This story is inspired by the movie 'Her', but it's not exactly the same._

_Thanks to Aerle for Beta'ing :D_

_Disclamer: I do not own One Piece (nor the movie 'Her')_

_P.S. I'm not sorry for the slightly weird side pairing :P_

* * *

**Him**

He looked at his computer screen and sighed. Fortunately, the speech was almost completely written out already. "There is no one who could ever replace you. You will be missed. Bianca, rest in peace," Marco said and the computer wrote the words down for him.

This was what his job was about; writing letters and speeches for people. They could be all kinds of speeches, but lately he had a hard time writing things for funerals. Ever since Thatch… and Pops shortly after him… It hurt.

One would think he would become better at it. That he knew how it felt and so, could put his feelings into words. But it didn't make it easier at all.

Marco read the text over and decided it should do. "Save and send to Miss Franklin." After the computer did what he said, he closed it and stood up. It had been enough work for today.

He said goodbye to his colleague behind the counter and made his way home. Down the street, four stops with the subway and then two streets towards the small grocery store. For dinner he decided to do something easy and bought a ready-to-serve dinner. His flat was just around the corner.

Marco stopped in his track when he saw a familiar raven head standing in front of the elevator. He considered turning around and wait a bit, because no matter how much he loved his brother, he really didn't feel like talking to him now. Let alone the man's boyfriend, who was standing by his side.

Unfortunately, before he could do anything like that, Izo had already spotted him. "Hey, Marco."

The blonde forced a smile onto his face. "Hey," he said as he closed the distance between them. At that moment the elevator doors opened and the three of them stepped inside. Izo lived in the same building, but three floors beneath him.

"So how's it going?" the crossdresser asked while stepping into the elevator. "We haven't seen you in a while."

"I'm fine," Marco answered.

Izo hummed, only partly satisfied. "Are you already dating anyone again?"

"No. I don't really feel like it yet."

"Because of Pops and Thatch?"

The writer shrugged. "Partly."

Izo gave him a worried look. "It has been almost a year ago, Marco. Don't you think it's time to move on? You know, a boy- or girlfriend could actually be a nice distraction and help you to enjoy life again."

"I'm enjoying life fine," the blonde answered a little annoyed. "How are _you_?"

The crossdresser smiled, but his brother could see it was half-hearted. "I'm doing very well. Smokey is moving in with me next week."

Marco looked at the man next to Izo, who had been silent until now, and smiled at him. "That's nice," he said, though actually he didn't like the man that much. But he wasn't the one who had to live with him. If Izo was happy, his brother was too.

Smoker smiled back at him. "Yeah, you should stop by some time."

A 'ping' was heard and the elevator doors opened again. The couple exited the small room, while Izo agreed with his boyfriend. "Yes, you really visit me too little."

Marco nodded as a vague promise to do so soon and the doors closed again. The elevator brought him the last three floors up and he quickly entered his apartment, where he put his meal into the microwave. He sat down in his armchair. How could he date someone, be happy already? It felt like betrayal to his deceased father and brother. Pretending like life was all happy and just forget about their lost lives. He had been on a date, a month ago, but he really wasn't ready for it yet and consequently, it had stopped after that one time.

Marco jumped up when his microwave made an annoying beeping sound. He got his food and sat down again, letting his big, projected screen pop up. He watched the news while eating, after which he played a video game.

Before he knew it, hours had passed. Marco closed the game. He should go to bed soon, but he wasn't really tired yet. He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep if he tried it now.

Well, maybe a little physical distraction wouldn't hurt. "Search for porn," he ordered his computer that was connected to his projected screen. It didn't take long for him to find something to his liking and started playing the video. He opened the button and fly of his pants and let his hand slide inside his underwear.

* * *

The next days seemed to be the same as usual. Love letters, thanks speeches and so on. Nothing special, but he made the best of it and his week passed relatively quick.

That day he made his way home from work as usual. In the subway station they advertised something on a big screen. Marco was going to walk on, but then the voice of the advertiser reached his ears and he stopped to listen. "We ask you a simple question. Who are you? … What can you be? … Where are you going? … What are the possibilities? Grand Line Technology is proud to introduce the first artificially intelligent Operating System. An intuitive entity that listens to you, understands you and knows you. It's not just an operating system, it's a consciousness… Introducing: OS-1."

Marco looked at the small poststhat were standing near, where you could buy such an Operating System. Well, he could always try it, right? He had to admit he felt a little lonely, but when he talked to Izo or any of his other brothers, they always had some – doubtlessly well meant – advice about how he should live his life. An OS he could talk to when he felt like it, but he could also turn it off whenever he wanted.

Before he realized it, he was standing in line before one of the selling posts. Soon it was his turn. He pressed some buttons and he was asked to let his smartphone touch the side of the machine to pay. He did so, and got a set of wireless earphones and a chip for in his computer, together with a small manual. He looked at it and put it into his bag, shrugging. He would see how it worked and what it was later.

* * *

It was already a few hours after dinner, when Marco remembered about his recent purchase_**.**_ He retrieved the set from his bag and went to sit behind his desk. He inserted the chip into his computer and put his earphones into his ears.

Immediately, the program opened on his screen. It asked him if he could check if the earphones worked. If he didn't hear anything, he should check whether they were turned on or not. He felt in his ear and found a little switch. He turned the earpieces on and immediately a female voice spoke to him. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes, I can hear you now," the writer answered.

"Good. I need to ask you a few questions before your OS is ready."

"Okay."

"Could you describe yourself in three words?"

He frowned. Why start with such a hard question? "Eh… smart, easy-going? A tad lonely, I guess."

"What is your sexuality?"

"Why do you need that information?" Marco asked with raised eyebrows.

"Please answer the question."

He sighed. "Bisexual."

"Are you single?"

"Yes."

"How is your relationship with your parents?"

"With my biological parents? Because that relationship is non-existent. I had a good relation with my foster father, but he died eleven months ago."

"Last question. Would you like a male or a female OS?"

Why would he care? "Uhm, male?"

"Congratulations, your Operating System is active."

A short silence followed and then a young, joyful, male voice greeted him. "Hey."

Marco leaned back into his chair. "Hello."

"Who are you? Tell me a bit about yourself," the voice asked curiously.

"Okay, I'm Marco, I live on my own," he started. "I'm a writer. Well, I write letters and speeches for people as a job. I've got quite a big family, my brother Izo lives three levels down, but I've got thirteen… eh, twelve other brothers. They live further away though."

"Sounds nice, to have a big family," his OS reacted.

"Yeah, it is. At some times. I don't see them that much anymore, lately."

"Why not?"

The blonde shrugged. "Just… I don't know. I wanted to be alone for a bit, after my father and one of my brothers, who was also my best friend, passed away."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"But what about you?" Marco asked to change the subject.

"I'm an Operating System," his computer answered dryly.

"Do you… have a name?"

It was silent for a moment. "Ace?"

"You made that up yourself?"

"I searched online for names and liked this one the best."

"You did that in just a second or two?" Marco asked a little surprised.

"Yeah, it was rather slow of me, don't you think?" The OS chuckled. "Do you like 'Ace'?"

The blonde smiled. "Yeah, I like it."

* * *

Marco rolled around in bed. He couldn't sleep. Again. It was becoming a frequent problem of his. Only one night in the week he was able to sleep well, because he hadn't been able to do so the nights before and was just very tired by then.

He looked at his clock. Only two a.m. yet. His eyes caught sight of his smartphone and his ear pieces. He picked up the latter and put them into his ears. "Ace?"

"Hey, you're awake?" the immediate reply came.

"Yeah, can't sleep," Marco stated the obvious.

"Why is that?" Ace sounded honestly interested.

The blonde yawned, not completely unaffected by the fact that it was night. "I get this dream all the time. About Pops and Thatch."

"Thatch was your brother?"

Marco nodded, but then realized his OS couldn't see that. "Yeah."

"What's the dream about?"

"I'd rather not talk about it. It just has them dying over and over again. Sometimes some of my other brothers die too."

"That sucks," was Ace's commentary.

"You could say that again. I'd rather not sleep than relive all that."

"Can I do something to make sleeping easier? To distract you so that you might not have that dream again?" the OS asked. "I mean, you gotta sleep eventually."

Marco smiled. "If you can, please, give it a try."

"Okay… should I read you a bedtime story? Or sing for you?"

He chuckled. "Can you sing?"

"Of course! I can do everything."

"Hmm… I'm not really in the mood for a song now, I guess," Marco said, thinking. "What were you doing before I called you? Were you doing anything?"

"Yeah, I was looking through your photo's," Ace answered him as if it was the most normal thing on earth.

"I… don't remember giving you permission to do that."

A chuckle, that actually sounded kind of sexy, reached Marco's ears. "I was curious about what you looked like. Your hair is funny."

"Oi, don't make fun of my hair."

"It's like a pineapple." When Marco didn't react to it, Ace continued a little worried, "I'm sorry, did I go too far? I didn't mean to insult you, it was just a joke."

"No, it's okay," the blonde assured him. "It's just… Thatch said that once too. He had a stupid hairstyle himself though, so he soon learned to not make fun of mine."

"Heh, he sounded like my kind of person," Ace joked.

Marco smiled. "He probably was."

"But hey, here we are talking about your brother again. Wasn't I going to distract you from that?"

"Yeah, you were. You're failing miserably. Though, I guess it's not bad to remember the good things. Probably. Maybe." His brightened mood was already slipping away again.

"Of course it is!" Ace said. "Hey, I saw this picture of you with your brothers on a beach, wearing all kinds of funny heads. Was that in Spain?"

Marco chuckled. "Yeah, it was! Mallorca to be precise."

After that, they talked on and on about the travels he had made over the years, effectively tiring Marco and lulling him into a dreamless sleep around half past three.

* * *

He pressed the doorbell next to Izo's door. He did have a spare key, but didn't like to use that when it wasn't necessary. Especially not now the crossdresser was living with his boyfriend.

"Oi, Ace," he started. The past few weeks he had barely taken his earphones out and talked to Ace all through the day. Marco felt like he really knew him and that Ace knew him too. And it wasn't even as weird as he had expected.

"Yeah, what's it?"

"I'm going to visit Izo now. I probably won't be responding to anything you say, since, well, that sounds a little stupid when the others can't hear you."

"Yeah, sure. Can you put the camera of your phone on? That way I could see your brother too."

Marco did what his OS asked and returned his phone to his breast pocket, where it stuck out just enough to give the camera a clear view.

The door opened and Smoker appeared before him. "Marco, nice to see you."

"Hello, nice to see you too!" Ace commented with an appreciating tone to his voice.

The writer raised an eyebrow and could just suppress a chuckle. He straightened his face again. "Yeah, nice to see you too, Smoker," he said with way less enthusiasm than his OS.

Smoker let him inside and the blonde walked on, into the living room. Izo sat on the sofa, but sprang up as soon as he saw his brother. A wide smile appeared on his face. "Marco! How nice of you that you finally decided to pay me a visit!"

"Is that your brother or your sister?" Ace commented.

Marco smiled, partly because of what Ace said, partly because he saw his brother smile. "Yeah, I'm sorry, I've been awfully busy lately." Well, that might be a little exaggerated, but he didn't have a really good reason beside that one.

Izo gave him a look as if he didn't buy the excuse either, but gave him a hug anyway. "Well, I'm happy you're here now." He let go of his brother and gestured him to sit down on the sofa. He sat down too, but then turned to his boyfriend who had walked into the living room as well. "Oh honey, could you make us a cup of tea?"

The white haired man raised an eyebrow and looked at him with a displeased look for a second, before he rolled his eyes and walked towards the kitchen.

"Thank you!" Izo called after him. He smiled and looked back at his brother. "He doesn't like it when I call him 'honey', especially not when others are around." He chuckled. "But tell me, how's life? What's been keeping you busy?"

Marco shrugged. "Work, mostly." Really, there wasn't much more that happened in his life. Well, he had Ace now, and their talks were a very nice distraction from his boring life, but he decided not to tell the crossdresser about his OS yet. Izo probably wouldn't take it well if he told him he could talk to his computer while he didn't have the time to visit his family.

"That's it?" Izo asked. "Don't you have a life? I mean, there is more out there than work, you know? And you used to be so lively."

"Yeah, well, I just get a lot of work lately. So my job just consumes a lot of my time," Marco explained.

"Liar," Ace said into his ear.

"But I met an ex of Thatch a few weeks ago, Mero, you remember, the girl with the long blue hair?" the blonde tried to change the subject. When Izo nodded confirming, Marco continued, "She asked how we were, how Thatch was doing…"

"Oh…" Izo said, probably not daring to say anything about the change of topic. "So… how did she take it?"

"She seemed pretty shocked when I told her… She hadn't had contact with him for quite some years, but she still seemed to care for him," Marco explained.

"Well, of course she was shocked. No one had expected him to die so young…" the black haired man brought in. Marco could see on his face that he missed his brother too. Well, of course; they all missed him.

At that moment Smoker walked in with a tray with three steaming cups. He placed the mugs on the table and sat down himself. "So, Marco, how are you?"

"Yeah, fine," the blonde responded. Not wanting to give another explanation of his life at the moment, he moved on with the conversation. "How is the living together thing going? Are you tired of my brother yet?"

The white haired man chuckled. "Not yet."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean? You'll never grow tired of me!" Izo said quasi offended.

Marco smiled. Even though he himself might not have a particular click with his brother's boyfriend, Izo really seemed to love him.

They chatted away, Marco making sure the topic of their conversation was rarely about him, but at a certain point he couldn't avoid it anymore. Izo smiled encouraging at his brother. "I still really think it would do you good if you'd date someone again." Marco grunted troubled, but the crossdresser ignored that. "I have a girl-friend who's single too! Maybe you should give her a chance. She said she would go with it if I found her a nice date."

The writer rolled his eyes. He really wasn't going to be left alone about this, was he? "Maybe… but first, it's been one year since Pops passed away in three days… shall we go together?" It had only been two weeks ago that it was Thatch's one year anniversary, when all his brothers had gone to the cemetery. Marco had decided to go alone, but realized later that that had been a mistake. Of course he had Ace as his company, but the OS hadn't known Thatch. So it would be nice this time to go together with his brother.

Izo smiled. "Of course. Everybody is coming. They will be glad to hear you will come with us." He placed a hand on Marco's leg. "But you know, I think Pops would want to see you happy too. He would love to see you dating again. You know what? I'll set up a date for you and my friend next week. When are you available?"

The blonde sighed. "On Friday evening… I guess. Is this really necessary?"

"Yes, it is. I'll ask her if Friday next week fits her too," Izo answered.

Marco looked at Smoker for help, even though he didn't really expected it from the man. Said man had just lit the two cigars in his mouth and chuckled. "He can be really stern and persuasive, if he wants."

The crossdresser cast an angry look at him. "We had agreed not to smoke inside! Go to the balcony!"

Now Smoker grunted as he stood up. "You see what I mean?" he said to Marco before he made his way to the balcony.

* * *

His father's anniversary had passed quite easily. His brothers were all happy to see him and they didn't ask any questions Marco would classify as 'annoying'. They probably didn't think the occasion was fit for it. Still, Marco didn't stay any longer than necessary. He had visited his father's and Thatch's grave plenty of times before, and even though he thought it was important to go there after exactly a year too, he didn't feel like staying with his brothers for a longer period of time yet.

The next week passed relatively fast, with Ace distracting him from his sad thoughts most of the time. Really, what would he be without his OS? Marco smiled as he thought about Ace. The guy had really grown on him.

However, that also meant it was Friday before he even noticed it. Izo had made sure he couldn't escape this date, so here Marco was, walking through the streets towards the restaurant his brother said they should meet.

"So… you're really going to do this?" Ace asked him.

The blonde shrugged. "I don't have much of a choice."

"But you don't really want to?"

"Well,… not really. But then again, maybe Izo's right. So, I decided to open myself up to it. Who knows, maybe it's not that bad."

"Oh, okay."

Marco raised his eyebrows. "You almost sound disappointed."

Ace snorted. "Of course not. It's good for you. Your brother _is_ right. It would be nice if you could be happy again. And if you can be together with someone you love…"

"Take it easy, I don't even know the woman yet. It's a bit early to talk about love, isn't it?" Somehow, Marco had gotten an uneasy feeling in his chest, making him want to turn around and walk away after all. But he couldn't do that. He was not going to let a woman wait for him.

Ace was silent for a moment. "Yeah, you're right."

Marco neared the restaurant already, being a little bit early.

"Do you know what she looks like?"

"Izo said she had curly pink hair. I wouldn't be able to miss her."

Ace snorted. "Doesn't sound like your type."

"What do you know about my type?" Marco asked chuckling.

"Dunno, just a feeling."

Marco entered the restaurant. "Alright, be quiet now, okay, I think I see her already." He nodded to the waiter at the entrance and walked on towards the table he saw the pink haired woman sitting.

"Hmpf, I'll only be quiet if I want to."

The blonde stopped a short distance from the table and cleared his throat. "You must be Perona."

The young woman, Izo's friend, looked up. "Yes, I am. Are you Marco?"

"Yeah," he answered as he shook her hand. To be honest, she didn't look like his type at all, Ace had a point there. However, he was not one to judge someone only by looks. "Nice to meet you."

"Izo had said you were cuter, but I guess you're not bad looking." She smiled at him.

_Gee, thanks_. What the hell had Izo told her about him? Marco smiled and sat down at the other side of the table. They ordered a drink and started to talk about basic things like work and family and such stuff.

It took Marco only a few minutes to see that he was not going to get a happy family with this woman. Still, he had promised his brother that he was going to try. So he just drank some more wine and slowly, as the evening passed, the conversations were getting easier. And Perona was getting slightly tipsy too, so he wasn't the only one.

Well, to be honest, she wasn't bad looking either. Just because she was focused on looking cute and thus whore mostly pink and black Lolita clothes, didn't mean she didn't have a nice body beneath that. And when you got to know her, her personality wasn't _that_ bad either.

By the time they ordered their dessert, they were just finishing the second bottle of wine. "Should we order another bottle?" Perona asked him, after the two of them had told the waiter which dessert they wanted.

"Are you sure that is a good idea, madam?" the guy asked concerned.

Marco frowned. Who did that waiter think he was? "Of course that's a good idea. One more should be okay."

The woman nodded. "Yeah, I think so too. One more bottle of the same please."

"Uh… Marco, I really don't think that's a good idea."

Why was his conscience talking to him? Oh wait… it wasn't his conscience, it was Ace. Marco had just enough sense left to not talk back to him. What would Perona think of him if he did that?

The waiter nodded and walked away, only to return a few moments later with a new bottle of wine. A few minutes later the crème brûlée and dame blanch arrived too, the latter for Marco, the first for his date.

"Aww, your dessert looks cute too~!" Perona commented. "I want a bite of it!"

Marco chuckled. "Sure, if I get one of yours too."

She nodded enthusiastically and already took a bit of her crème brûlée on her spoon. She reached out, while he met her movement with his mouth, closing his lips around the spoon. _Wow_, it was really delicious. So delicious that he hadn't even noticed that he'd closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, he saw the woman look entranced at him, spoon still a few inches from his mouth. Marco smiled at her. "It's very nice."

She giggled as she pulled back her hand.

"Alright, come a little closer, now's your turn." The blonde made sure to take a bit of everything on his spoon, some vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and a fair dose of chocolate sauce. It almost all fitted into her mouth. However, a bit of chocolate sauce seeped down her lip and dripped on the exposed skin of her chest, slowly disappearing into the depths between her breasts.

Marco looked her in the eyes for a moment, but soon started to follow the trail of chocolate. Well, she did have a nice pair of boobs. Perona giggled again and let her finger run over her skin, from between her breasts, up to where the trail started, effectively removing the sweetness. She slowly licked her finger clean.

Marco couldn't help himself and used his finger to remove the last bit of chocolate at the corner of her mouth and copied her action by bringing the chocolate covered finger to his own lips.

"Your dessert is delicious too," Perona said as she continued to eat her own again. They quickly finished their food and the last bottle of wine, both not oblivious to the tension that had grown between them.

When they had finished, Marco paid the bill and they stood up to leave. "Shall I walk you home?" he asked his date.

"Yeah, that's nice of you," she said. They walked out of the restaurant, into the cooler night air.

"Which way is your home?" the blonde asked, while he noticed they were both not walking in an all too straight line.

Perona pointed left. "That way."

Marco wrapped an arm around her shoulders as they walked on. Neither of them noticed it as they gradually slowed down more and more and their faces grew closer together. At a certain moment they stood still on the side of the road, in the shadow of a building. Lips touched and soon tongues got involved too. The blonde felt the world around him spin slightly as the kiss got more passionate. Something in the back of his mind told him he should stop, that this was wrong, but his alcohol clouded mind didn't really care about that. He slowly felt his cock awaken and he let one hand slide over her side, up to her breasts while the other tried to get a hold of her ass.

Abruptly she pushed him away. "Get your hands off my body, pervert!"

Marco was confused by her sudden change of attitude, but did as she said anyway.

Perona looked disappointed at him. "You want sex on the first date? That's totally not cute! I had expected more from you." She sniffed offended. "Not that there will be another date. I can walk home the last bit alone, thank you very much." And with that, she walked away.

Marco followed her with his eyes, until she went around the corner, too stunned to say or do anything. He sighed a little while after she had disappeared from his view. "That didn't go very well," he said to no one in particular as he rubbed his temples. He didn't get an answer either.

He walked back home in silence.

* * *

The next morning he was woken up by his doorbell. Marco groaned and cast a look at his clock. 9:14 a.m.. He was thinking of just going back to sleep, as he didn't feel particularly good, but the bell rang again.

Sighing, he threw his legs over the edge of his bed. It wasn't very hard to guess who was standing in front of his door. Marco put on a pair of trousers and some slippers when the annoying noise sounded a third time.

"I'm coming!" Marco yelled at the person at his doorstep. Jeez, couldn't he be a little patient?

A few moments later he opened his door. "I was still sleeping," he said as he let his brother inside.

"Oh?" Izo said curiously. The blonde saw him looking around as if searching for something – or probably some_one_. "Alone?"

Marco rolled his eyes as he closed the door again. "Yes, alone."

The crossdresser sat down on his brother's couch. "So… how did the date go?"

Marco sat down next to him. "Bad." He actually didn't even want to think about last night. He had behaved like a horny teenager. He was ashamed of himself.

"What? Why? What happened?" Izo asked.

"She isn't my type, Izo, at all," the blonde told him. "You should have known that. I mean, she doesn't look _bad_, but she's just not my type."

The black haired man gave him a displeased look. "Have you even tried?"

Marco was getting a little annoyed. "Yes, I've tried! Even though I knew it wouldn't work out, I tried to make it work out anyway. I thought some alcohol might help with that. It did seem to work at first, but we drank a little too much and… I've gone too far." He sighed. "So I hoped that you could give me her number so that I could apologize to her."

Izo gave him a thoughtful look, obviously not happy with what his brother just told him. Then he retrieved his phone from his pocket and threw it into Marco's lap. "Here, use my phone. Her number is filed under 'Ghost Princess'."

The blonde decided not to comment on the odd nickname and nodded. "Thanks." He stood up and walked away to get some privacy while he selected her number and connected with it.

It took Perona only a few seconds to pick up. "Izo! Your brother is totally not cute! Do you know what he did?!"

"Yes, I know. Hi, Perona. It's Marco speaking." He could hear her gasp. "I know what I did last night and I called you to say I'm sorry. I should have never gone so far."

It was quiet for a moment. "No, you shouldn't."

"I'm really sorry. I had drunk a little too much. And… I guess I'm just not ready to date anyone yet." Well, saying that was at least better than saying he didn't really like her, wasn't it?

The writer could hear her sigh. "Okay… apologies accepted. I wasn't that sober either. I should have stopped it sooner, 'cause you're totally not my type."

Marco chuckled relieved. "Yeah, that's mutual. Alright, I'm glad we fixed this. Hope you have a great day."

"Yeah, you too." She almost immediately hang up.

When he returned to the living room, Izo looked at him expectantly. "Did you two make up?"

Marco nodded and returned the phone to its owner. Izo relaxed again. "I guess I should have known it too… I mean, you're right, she's not your type and you're not really her type either… I just wanted the two of you to be happy! And if that could be together…"

"It's okay. You don't need to apologize. Just don't try to set me up with anyone again." After that, they let the topic rest and talked a bit about work. Apparently, things didn't go very well for Izo. The crossdresser was an artist, but lately there weren't many places anymore that wanted to show his art, nor people who wanted to buy it. Izo himself also felt like he was missing something in his work.

Marco tried to make a funny remark on how Smoker didn't work really well as a muse for him then, but it wasn't received well by his brother. It only earned him an eye-roll and he was told he shouldn't speak ill about 'Smokey', since it had nothing to do with him.

After a while, his brother left and Marco was on his own again. All of a sudden, it was very quiet and it was only then that the blonde realized he hadn't heard Ace since the comment about the last bottle of wine, last night. That was odd. Normally, he talked to him before he went to sleep and he commented on almost all of his conversations. But he hadn't turned him off. He had even slept with his ear pieces in.

Marco got an eerie feeling in his stomach. "Ace?" He waited a few seconds, but didn't get a response. "Ace? Ace, are you there?"

A few more quiet seconds passed, but then he heard a voice that didn't sound too enthusiast to talk to him. "Hm, yeah, I'm here. What's it?"

That tone did nothing to ease Marco's mind. "You've been awfully quiet. Is something wrong?"

"I don't know. Could there be something wrong? I mean, I'm an OS… I couldn't have… feelings, could I?" Ace sounded confused now, rather than the uninterested way of talking he started in.

Still, it made the blonde stop in his track and sit down. "I… don't know either. But if you feel something… I guess you can?"

"Yeah… I guess."

"What… what kind of feelings do you have then?" Marco asked it, but had a fairly good idea what kind of feelings they were. He might realize it just now, but it was probably the same reason why he felt kind of guilty ever since he stepped into that restaurant yesterday.

"It's… nothing," Ace said, now sounding a little sad. It made the feeling of guilt in Marco grow. "Really, I shouldn't bother you with it."

"Why would you say that? I'm asking you. Besides, I don't like to hear you sad."

"I'm not sad… well, maybe a little. I don't really know," Ace tried to explain. "I just… got this feeling like… I didn't like what you did with that girl. And I'm not even talking about the groping."

Marco sighed, but for some reason he got a fluttering feeling in his chest too. "Ace, could you possibly be… jealous?"

He could almost hear the man pout. "Hmpf, maybe."

The blonde smiled. "You know, it didn't feel good. The whole thing with Perona, I mean. I drank too much, that's the only reason why I went so far with her. I only now realize it didn't feel good from the beginning, because I felt like I already had someone to fill the gap that Izo wanted Perona to fill for me."

Ace was silent for a moment. "You mean me?" he asked insecure.

"Yes, I mean you." Marco chuckled. "I'm sorry I didn't realize it before."

The OS began to laugh. "Really? I'm actually really happy to hear that."

Marco smiled. His mood was lifted immediately.

* * *

During the next days, they grew closer every time they spoke. Which was almost at every time of the day. Marco felt really good when he talked to the other and he actually missed him already when he had to turn his earphones off for two hours for an important meeting at work. He had taken Ace on various trips to show him some different places of the city, which he could always see through the camera of his phone. Ace had sounded very happy all the time and that made Marco happy too.

However, one night, Marco was lying in bed, his phone resting on his nightstand and the sheets discarded, so that he Ace could look at him. That night Ace sounded a little insecure again. "Doesn't it bother you that I don't have an actual body?"

"No," Marco answered almost immediately. "Why would it?"

"Well… it does bother me a little… I mean, don't you also want some physical contact?"

He thought about it. "Hmm, maybe," he said in all honesty. "But I must admit I haven't missed it that much with you. You're already very present as it is," he said smiling. "But if it would make you feel better, we could pretend you'd have a body." He looked at his phone so that Ace would get the feeling he looked at him. "Describe yourself to me. What would you look like, if you had a body?"

"Okay… I'd be tall-ish, shorter than you, but not much." Ace was silent for a moment and Marco took it as a clue that he was thinking. "I have dark brown hair, very dark, almost black. And brown eyes. Also, I'm pretty muscular. Not overly so, but still… I don't wear a shirt, so you can get a good view of my chest and back. I wear black shorts that rest dangerously low on my hips…"

"Oi, oi, are you trying to seduce me?"

Marco heard an incredibly sexy chuckle. "Maybe. Look, I've drawn a picture of me."

He picked up his phone and saw a picture of a handsome young man appear on his screen, fitting Ace's description. "Oh, wow, you're hot!"

Ace chuckled again, though this time it sounded slightly embarrassed. "You think so?"

"Definitely. However, there is something missing." The blonde smiled.

"There is?" his OS sounded confused. "What is it?"

"Freckles. You would have freckles."

"Why? Freckles aren't sexy."

"They are!" Marco argued. "Besides, you look too serious like this. Really, freckles fit your personality."

"Hm, okay… if you say so." Immediately, freckles appeared on the picture's face.

The smile on Marco's face grew wider. This guy was just perfect. "Yeah, I like that. You look cute."

"Cute?! No way!" Within a second the freckles were gone again. "I'm not cute."

The blonde frowned. "Yes, you are! But cute is good. You're cute and sexy at the same time. There are not many who can pull that off." When nothing changed, he sighed. "Come on, Ace. They looked so good on you."

Ace sighed as well. "Fine." The freckles appeared again.

Marco laughed softly. "That's more like it." He placed his phone back on his nightstand in a way he could keep looking at the picture, and lied back down on his pillow. "So, now that you have a body, what will you do with it?"

"I'll… just lie down next to you," Ace said. "Let my hand slide down your arm, until I can hold your hand."

Marco closed his eyes and imagined the things Ace said. He could almost really feel the other's touch. "Hmm, that's nice. Come a little closer, you can lay your head on my shoulder or my chest if you want."

"Heh, now who's cute here?" Ace said teasingly.

Marco smiled, but didn't say anything. He felt his heart speed up a little at the other's words though.

"Alright, I lay my head down on your shoulder," Ace said. "In such a way that I can get a good look of your chest."

Marco chuckled. "You like my chest?"

"Uh, _yeah!_" The response he got sounded like his question was the stupidest he'd ever asked. "And I like the tattoo. It's your family crest isn't it?"

The blonde let his fingers trail over the inked skin, while keeping his eyes closed, imagining it were Ace's fingers. "Yeah, it is."

"That's awesome. The bond you have with your family is really beautiful, even if you've got a little less contact with them at the moment." Ace was quiet for a moment. "But that's not the only reason I like your chest. I mean, it's obviously good looking in itself."

Marco laughed. "Well… thanks. Though, compared to you…"

"Shush, you're definitely hotter."

"I disagree, but let's not argue about that. I was just enjoying you lying against me."

Ace hummed agreeing. "Let my fingers run over those fine abs…"

The blonde moaned softly as he could feel Ace's fingers do exactly that.

"They slowly, very slowly, go lower and lower…" Meanwhile the OS' voice became deeper with every word he said.

"Oi, are you sure you want to go _that _low?" Marco asked, but his cock twitched at the idea. _He_ certainly wanted him to go that low.

"Oh, I'm sure," Ace said seductively. "I just reached the hem of your boxers and…"

"Hold it," Marco interrupted him. "This is not fair. You're one step behind; you're still wearing those black shorts."

His OS chuckled in that sexy way of him again. Really, it seemed like Ace had totally switched to seductive mode now. "But… I'm not wearing anything underneath these."

Marco's dick reacted again to the other's words and he let out a soft moan.

"Hm, you like that, don't you?"

The blonde smirked. "A little."

"Good, now that we've cleared that… I let my hand caress the obvious bulge in your boxers."

Marco let his hand run over his clothed erection, pretending it was Ace's hand.

"Damn, you must be really big." Ace's voice sounded deep and lustful and his words, combined with the slight friction, made Marco gasp.

"Oh, God. Ace, let me just take those pants off your perfect ass."

"Sure, be my guest."

He pictured his hands on the hem of the other's pants and slowly opened the button, followed by the zipper. He told Ace every move that he made and could hear him enjoy it.

When the shorts were gone, Ace opened his mouth again. "Marco, take a look at me. Don't you want to see me naked?"

The blonde opened his eyes and looked at the image of Ace on his phone. A full grown erection and a seductive smirk greeted him. "Shit, Ace, you're beautiful."

"Okay, now you're beginning to sound a little sappy," Ace said teasingly.

"Yeah, you're right. I shouldn't boost your ego so much."

"I didn't say _that,_" the OS joked.

Marco chuckled as he closed his eyes again. "Just kiss me already."

"Alright, I'm kissing you."

There was a comfortable silence in which Marco pictured the other's lips on his own.

"My hand slowly creeps back down there again. This time, however, I sneak into your boxers, slowly wrapping my fingers around your cock and starting to stroke it."

Marco let out a pleasured sigh as his fingers touched the sensitive skin. After moving up and down a few times, he commented, "If you're gonna ignore my underwear anyway, you can just as well take it off."

"You're right," Ace agreed. "I'll slowly push them down and over your feet."

"Why does everything has to go slowly with you?"

"Because I like to tease you," he said, making Marco chuckle. "I'm sitting between your legs now and kissing your thighs, going up… very slowly."

The blonde could see his lover smirk as he kissed his legs and couldn't suppress a moan.

"I'm getting dangerously close to your beautiful hard on, but just avoiding it."

"Hng." Marco bit his lip. He wanted Ace to move further, but at the same time he liked the teasing too. Besides, he would never beg anyone to do something.

"I let my tongue dart out, licking the skin close to your erection… and then I let my tongue run from the base of it, up to the tip of your cock."

"Ohh," Marco moaned, he heard that Ace's breath had become heavier.

"I'm sucking lightly on the tip, before leaving it again and kissing my way up to your chest."

"Damn, you tease!"

The OS chuckled again. "You were kinda asking for it."

"Is that so?" Marco asked with a slight warning tone to his voice. "Then I'll flip us around, so that I'm on top now and start kissing _your_ chest." The blonde smirked. "And especially nibbling on your nipples."

"Ah… fuck, Marco," Ace moaned.

_Oh god_, the freckled man sounded so damn sexy! "My right hand wanders off to your cock and starts stroking it, while my left hand pushes your legs apart some more." Marco heard the other pant. "I bring my fingers towards your entrance, all the while I'm still kissing your chest. I'm slowly pushing my finger inside you and start to move in and out..."

"Ahh,… you know… that's not really necessary… right? The whole… preparing thing," Ace said moaning.

Marco snorted. "You've got a body now, you'll have to act responsible for it. I'm adding a second finger."

"Aahh!" More delicious sounds reached his ears as he continued to prepare his lover while still moving his other hand up and down the man's shaft.

"That's enough, Marco," Ace moaned after a while.

Hearing his name spoken in that aroused voice, made Marco go crazy. "Are you sure, Ace?"

"Yes! I'm turning us around again," the OS said, and the blonde pictured himself pinned underneath him again – an image he didn't mind at all. "Put some lube on your dick, if we're gonna do this responsibly."

Marco smirked as he grabbed a small bottle from his nightstand, uncapped it and squeezed some of the contains onto the heated flesh of his erection.

"Hmmm, good. Now I'm positioning myself above you, I can feel the tip of your cock waiting at my entrance…"

Marco had a hard time keeping his hands from his rock hard member, waiting to touch it in time with Ace's movements.

"And now I'm slowly lowering myself onto you… ohh, ffuuuck, you're huge!"

Marco let his eyes roll back as the pleasure was overwhelming. Even though he was the one who touched his own cock, it felt way better because of the image in his mind and the hearing of Ace's voice. "Damn," he moaned. "I'm completely inside you now."

The freckled man was panting heavily. "I can feel you… so deep… inside me."

Marco could almost feel the other shudder around him.

"I'm now slowly moving up… and down." Ace let out another moan. "Ahh, yesss."

Steadily, they build up their pace, filling the room with moans and pants. It was different, but it was in no way inferior to sex with a real human. Not at all.

After a while Marco felt a familiar warmth build up. "Ohh, fuck, Ace, I'm… I'm close."

"Ah, me… too… aahhhh!"

It took Marco two more strokes before he came, moaning his lover's name.

Both took some time to catch their breath again. After a few moments Marco felt like he could talk again, even though his throat felt a little sore. "That was amazing, Ace."

He heard a satisfied sigh. "I couldn't agree more. I'm laying my head against your shoulder again, so we can rest."

Marco had a huge smile on his face that he couldn't get rid of. "Sure."

"Now, let's sleep."

The blonde chuckled. "Yeah, I think I can do that now."

It was quiet for a minute or two, when Marco opened his mouth again. "Ace?"

"Hmm?" was the sleepy response. Did an OS even sleep? Oh well, Marco didn't really care about that now.

The blonde was quiet for a moment, thinking over what he was going to say. Wasn't it a little weird? He shook his head. He just had sex with Ace; this wasn't weird anymore. "I love you."

Ace was quiet for a few seconds too, almost making Marco regret his words, but then he answered his confession. "I love you too."

* * *

_TBC~_

_Please leave a review, I'm very curious what you thought about it._


	2. Chapter 2

_I'm sorry it took soooo long. I was kinda struggling with this story (I hated it near the end), but it's finally finished now :)_

_Here is the second (and last) part of this story, originally for the 4th day of the MarcoAce week (theme: angst). _

_Thanks Aerle, for beta'ing._

* * *

**Part 2**

Marco had only been in the elevator for a few seconds when he felt it slow down again. He looked at the number above the door and saw he was at the 22th floor.

With a 'ping', the doors opened and Izo entered the elevator. "Hey, Marco," he greeted his brother. The blonde smiled. "Hey, Izo. How are you?"

The cross dresser shrugged. "Okay. The same as last time."

"Hmm, still no improvement in your work then?"

Izo shook his head. "Not really. But you look happier than usual. Something happened?"

The smile on Marco's lips didn't falter. "Well…. I have been getting really close with someone and… I guess you could say he's my boyfriend now."

His brother looked genuinely surprised. "Really? That's great to hear, Marco! I'm so happy for you!" The elevator doors opened as they had reached ground level. " So what's his name?" he asked as they walked towards the exit of the building.

"Ace," the blonde answered.

Izo looked at his watch. "Well, I've got an appointment to go to now, but I would love to meet Ace some time."

Marco nodded. "Yeah, of course." They stepped outside and both had to go the other way. "Good luck with your appointment."

"Thanks," his brother waved at him as he walked away. "See ya!"

* * *

"So when are you going to tell me where we're going?" Ace asked impatiently.

"I'm not," Marco answered. It was a few days later and he had taken his lover out on a surprise date. "But shouldn't you have figured it out by now?"

"I can only check where this train is going. I don't know where you're gonna take me after that."

The blonde chuckled. "Well, you'll just have to be patient then."

It took only seven more minutes for the train to arrive at its final stop. Marco got off and walked through the train station, pretending to go a specific way two times, just to fool Ace, who tried to guess their destination every time. Eventually, he reached the subway station where he could jump into a carriage just before the doors closed.

The subway started moving and a few seconds later Ace guessed again. "Are we going to the beach? We're going to the beach, aren't we?" He sounded excited.

"I'm not telling you anything. Just wait," Marco commented. The person standing next to him looked up for a second as if the blonde was talking to him, but as soon as he noticed this wasn't the case, he got back to playing something on his phone.

"We're going to the beach~!" Marco heard in his ear, making him chuckle. At least his lover liked the idea. "I've never seen the beach in real life before!"

It wasn't long before Marco reached the stop where he had to get off the subway again. As soon as he stepped outside the station, the sun hit his face. He closed his eyes for a moment and smiled. It really was a beautiful day to go to the beach.

He had to walk about 150 meters more before the sand invaded his sandals. He bend over to take his shoes off, as it was a lot nicer to walk on the beach without them.

"The sea is so beautiful," Ace said admiring.

Marco looked up again, staring at the water in the distance. "It is, isn't it? Wait until you see it from up close." He took his sandals in his hand and walked towards the waterline.

Even though the sun was out and the temperature was really nice, there weren't that many people on the beach. That was probably because it was a normal working day and Marco had just picked a good time to take a day off.

It took him a little more than a minute to reach the sea. He just stood there for a few seconds, letting the waves roll over his feet. The water was still cold, but just warm enough to stand in it.

"It's so big! So wide!" Ace said in awe.

"Yeah," the blonde agreed. "You know, I feel some kind of bond with the sea. It probably sounds weird to you, but I used to say I had been a pirate in a previous life."

His lover chuckled. "No, I can imagine you as a pirate." It was silent for a moment. "Imagine how much freedom you'd have. The endless sea to move around to wherever you want, not having to obey any law…"

Marco smiled. He felt exactly the same. "Yeah, that sounds great." He started to walk along the coast, letting the water cover his feet.

After a while they started to discuss the people that passed them. "Wow, it's really true what they say," Ace commented. "That people look like their dog."

Marco looked at the woman that came walking towards them, and snorted. She looked exactly like the small pug that was walking next to her. "She… is probably beautiful on the inside."

"Oh, I'm sure."

The woman passed them, not giving Marco a smile or even a look.

"Or not," Ace said and Marco chuckled. "You know, human beings are actually really weird. I mean, why do they walk on two legs? Why is everything at the place it is?"

Marco raised an eyebrow, being surprised by the unexpected deep turn of the conversation. "Where would things be otherwise?"

"I dunno… but just imagine. What if your asshole was in your armpit?" Ace said as if it was a very normal thing to say. "Could you imagine how sex would work?"

Well, Marco could have known the deep conversation couldn't last _that_ long. "I…. am not sure I want to."

"Look at your phone, I made a drawing of it."

The blonde got curious after all and checked his phone. "Ace, did you have to draw _us_?" He shook his head while he looked at the odd image. "That's weird. I'm glad my asshole isn't in my armpit." He couldn't help but laugh as he put his phone back into his breast pocket.

"Well, yeah, but _you_ didn't decide about that. What if nature just worked differently?"

"You can think 'what if' with everything, but it doesn't really matter, right? That's just not the way it is," Marco commented, trying to forget about the picture Ace just showed him.

"Well, you can manipulate genes and stuff. Who knows, it might be possible."

"Just no. Let's not do that."

Ace laughed, sending the butterflies to fly freely through Marco's chest. "Alright, maybe it wasn't a very good idea," he admitted.

* * *

It was a few days later, when Marco's phone rang, just as he had showered after waking up. He picked up without checking who was calling. "Hello?"

"Hey, Marco," he heard Izo say. "Could you come down? I need to talk to you."

"Eh, yeah, sure. But why –"

"Thank you, see you in a minute then?"

Marco was a little confused why Izo wouldn't just come to him, but it sounded serious, so he didn't say anything about it. "Yeah, need to get dressed first, but I'll be there soon."

Without saying anything, Izo hang up again.

A few minutes later, he rang Izo's doorbell. He had gotten dressed, but decided to leave his earphones home – leave Ace home – because it sounded serious and apparently Izo needed all his attention. The moment his brother opened the door, Marco knew something was very wrong.

The crossdresser was wearing no make-up and his hair hang loose around his shoulders. It wasn't like Marco hadn't seen the man like this before, but the occasions were very rare.

The blonde walked inside and gave his little brother a hug. "What's wrong?"

Izo pushed the door shut and walked towards the living room where he dropped down on the couch, staring into the distance. Marco sat down next to him and waited until the black haired man began to speak.

Izo took a deep breath before he opened his mouth. "Smokey left me."

The blonde's eyes widened. "What?! Why?"

"I…" Izo shook his head. "He said all I did, was ordering him around like he was my bitch."

Marco was silent for a moment. He didn't want to say there might be some truth to that, even though that _was_ what he was thinking. Instead, he snorted. "That guy should be _glad_ to be your bitch."

The corners of Izo's mouth curled up for a second, but immediately after that, his sad face returned again.

"But couldn't you just talk it over?" Marco asked. That was something a couple could overcome, right? Something one could work on. Not something why you'd immediately have to break up.

"Well, apparently not." It was obvious the crossdresser didn't understand it either. "When I came home yesterday, he was already packing his bags. He said he couldn't give me a second chance anymore, that he'd had to put up with me for too long already. But he never told me anything before!" He looked desperate.

Marco felt really sorry for his brother. "To be honest, I've never liked him _that_ much." When Izo raised an eyebrow at him, he continued, "I mean, he is okay, but you deserve much better."

The raven head looked at him. "I don't want anyone better, Marco. I want _him_."

The heart broken look on the man's face made Marco feel sad too. It hurt to see his brother like that. "Should I beat some sense into him?"

Izo let out a sad chuckle. "No. I just wished he'd talk to me."

"Well, he's gotta come back some time, right?" Marco asked. "He has some stuff left here, doesn't he?"

"I'm afraid not." The crossdresser shook his head. "Like I said, he was already packing when I came home. Apparently he had thought long and deep about it and planned this. Besides, he didn't have that much of his own stuff here yet, to begin with. So he left nothing behind." The man let his head fall back against the sofa, but then he seemed to remember something. "Well, one thing. But he left his keys behind too, so I don't think he's planning to get it back."

Marco looked curiously at him. "What did he leave behind?"

"I don't know if you've heard of it, but there are these Operating Systems?"

The blonde nodded. "I've heard of it." _Well, that was an understatement._

"Yeah, well, that's what he left behind. A woman, apparently she's named Nojiko." Izo sounded like he wasn't quite sure what to do with it.

"Well, that could be a good thing," Marco said. "You could talk with her. She knows Smoker and she could keep you company, because I can imagine it's a little lonely now he's gone."

Izo looked him in the eyes. "Can't you stay with me today?"

"I need to work," his brother said as an excuse.

"Can't you call in sick?" the raven haired man begged.

"No, Izo. I feel really sorry for you, but I can't. Like I said, talk to Nojiko. She might be able to help. If not, you've got twelve more brothers you can talk to."

Another sigh escaped Izo's lips. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks for dropping by."

"Of course." Marco placed a hand on the younger man's shoulder. "I'll come back after work to see how you're doing, okay?"

Izo nodded and his brother stood up. He really needed to hurry now, if he wanted to arrive at work in time. "Alright, take care." Marco looked him in the eyes. " You don't need him."

"I do…" the dark haired man said quietly, but when Marco gave him a stern look, he shook his head. "No, I don't need him."

* * *

It was almost two weeks later when Marco had a quiet moment for himself again. He just sat down in front of the TV when Ace started talking.

"Hey, Marco," he said quietly. "There is actually something that is bothering me."

His right to the point comment worried the writer a little. Had he done something wrong? "What is it? Tell me."

"Well, I know we've talked about this before, but it still doesn't sit well with me…" The OS paused for a moment, but Marco waited patiently for him to continue. "I mean, we have sex, but I still don't have real body. It's different for you, isn't it? I mean, different from sex with someone who has an actual body."

The blonde sighed, a little relieved he hadn't done anything wrong. "I told you not to worry about it, Ace. Yes, it's different, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy it."

"Yeah, but wouldn't you rather have sex with a real man, if you had the choice?"

"No, Ace, the only one I want to have sex with, is you. Whether you have a real body or not."

"Yeah, okay," the OS said, "but… So if I could get a body, you would also want to have sex with me?"

Marco shrugged. "Of course. But that's not possible, is it? So I don't really see why we are discussing this."

"Well… there _is_ an option," Ace said a little cautiously.

"Oh?" Marco was surprised. He really couldn't imagine anything like that.

"Yeah, it may be a little different than what you have in mind, but there are people who really want to do something to help couples like us," his lover explained.

The blonde got a bad feeling about this. "What do you mean by help?"

"Well, for example, I met this guy and told him about our relationship. He thought what we had was really beautiful and he really understood me. He almost feels a bit like a brother to me. Anyway, he offered his body to us, or to _me_, so that we could have _real_ sex for a change!"

"Except _we_ won't have sex, but _I_ would have sex with _him_." Marco was really conflicted. Ace sounded so enthusiastic about it, but he himself didn't like the idea at all.

"No, you don't understand," Ace tried to persuade him. "He won't say anything. He will have earphones in too, so that I can tell him what to do, he won't do anything on his own. He will also have a tiny camera on his face, so that I can see you properly. So it would be me, we'll just be borrowing his body."

Marco closed his eyes an thought about it. "But wouldn't he be like… a hooker?" He was aware that it sounded a little mean and ungrateful towards that guy, but that was the way it felt for the blonde.

"No! He really just wants to help us. He doesn't even want money for it," Ace defended the mystery man.

"Okay, but still… I don't know if I could do it."

"Please, Marco, can you do this for me? It would mean a lot."

"But… I really like it the way it is," Marco tried, but when he didn't get a reaction, he sighed. "I'll think about it, okay?"

"Actually…" Ace started hesitant. "Could you think about it a little quickly? I had kinda expected you to be a little more enthusiastic about it and the guy I talked to… he's already on his way here."

"Really, Ace?!" Marco said a little annoyed. Couldn't he just _not_ make decisions before discussing it?

"I'm sorry. If you really don't want it, I'll send him back." However, his OS sounded very disappointed.

"No." The blonde rubbed his temples. "It's okay. If you really want it that bad, I'll give it a try."

"Really?!" Ace asked. He sounded so happy right now, Marco immediately smiled again. "Thank you! I love you so much, you know that?"

Marco chuckled. "I said I'd try. No guarantee that it will work out."

"I'm more than happy with that already."

Marco stood up. "So when will he be here?"

"In a few minutes."

The blonde walked to his bedroom and made sure his bed looked neat. There was a guest coming over after all, and they would probably use the bed. Sure enough, a few minutes later, the doorbell rang. Marco walked to the door and took a deep breath before opening it.

He was greeted by a smiling young man, about the same age as Ace. He had wavy blond hair and a barely visible scar in the area around his left eye.

"He doesn't look a thing like you, Ace."

The guy cast his look down, before shaking his head and closing the door, locking himself outside.

"Alright, Marco, we're gonna do this again," Ace said sternly. "I'm explaining your view on this to him right now, but you need to listen too. It might be another's body, but I'm borrowing it. So for as long as he is here, that guy is me. Okay? You just need to treat him like you would treat me. Remember, everything he does, _I_ do, I tell him to do."

Marco closed his eyes. He could do this. For Ace. "Okay, I get it."

"He's not gonna say anything. If you talk to him, I'm talking back. Because I am him, even if he doesn't really look like me. Understand?"

Marco chuckled because of the lecturing tone his lover was talking in. "Understood."

"Cool. Now, open the door again and let me in. We will start from the beginning."

The writer opened the door as his boyfriend asked.

This time the man in front of him smiled cheekily. "Hello, handsome," Ace said as the man walked towards Marco. He pushed the door close and swung his arms around the older man's neck. "I'm home~!"

Marco was a little taken by surprise when the man pushed his lips against his own. He had to remind himself that this was Ace, that it was his lover who was in control of this body. When Marco closed his eyes, he could relax a bit more and started kissing back.

When they broke apart, the writer was forced to open his eyes again. "You want something to drink?" was the first sentence he could think of. It still felt a little awkward.

"No, we're not gonna waste time on drinking," Ace said in a tone that implied what he _did_ want to spend his time on. The look on the guy's face matched that tone.

"Okay… so what _are _your plans with me then?" Marco asked, trying to get into the mood, but not quite succeeding yet.

The guy placed his hand on the writer's chest and pushed him against the wall. "Just wait and see." He started kissing his jaw and Marco had to suppress the urge to push him away. He closed his eyes again. Yes, with his eyes closed it became easier and he could enjoy the touch of the other's lips on his skin. It were Ace's lips, after all.

He let his hand wander over the young man's back and up to his head, nestling his fingers in the soft strands he found there.

"Hmm, you smell nice, Marco," the OS said, after which he started kissing his lover's neck.

Marco chuckled, fully aware that smelling was the one thing Ace _couldn't_ do. The lips on his neck disappeared and he automatically opened his eyes to see what the guy was doing.

Immediately, those lips were on his own again and they started to kiss passionately. As long as Marco didn't have to look, it seemed to go well. The kiss became more hungrily as Marco slowly began to get in the mood more.

"Hmm, Marco, take me to the bedroom," Ace said, lust evident in his voice.

The writer wrapped his arms around the other man and guided him to the bedroom, not taking his lips from him and certainly not opening his eyes.

When they reached it without bumping into walls too much, Marco pushed the other down on the bed. He broke their kiss to talk to his boyfriend. "What do you want me to do now, Ace?"

"Take off my shirt," he said, breathing heavily. "And kiss my chest."

Marco felt up the man's chest and started to open the buttons he found there.

"Please, look at me while you do this."

Marco wanted to protest, but shook that thought away. He was doing this for Ace. He was getting in the mood now anyway, it couldn't hurt to open his eyes, now.

He tried to look at the man beneath him without actually seeing him. Though, maybe he could do this. The guys wasn't bad looking, at least. Marco continued unbuttoning the shirt and kissed the man's lips. "Your kisses are so good, Ace," he said. It was true, even though he still couldn't fully accept this man was his lover, he did kiss very well.

His OS moaned softly. "No, you're lips are so nice." His voice was very deep. "Can you feel how hard I am?"

Marco let his hand wander over the other's legs and caressed the bulge in the man's pants. Well, yeah, he was hard, that much was obvious. It just really didn't feel right. He saw the pleasure on the man's face when he palmed his erection, which went together with a moan from Ace. He took a deep breath and tried to focus only on that voice again.

"Hmm, you obviously need some help to relax," the freckled man said. His hands felt up Marco's chest and he slowly pulled him down for a kiss again.

Before Marco noticed it, the other blonde flipped them over, and started kissing his way down from his neck, slowly – as Ace liked to do – over his chest, to his stomach. "I will help you relax," Ace said. "I will make you feel good."

Marco looked as the other started to stroke his manhood through his trousers. His cock might already be half hard, but his mind definitely wasn't in it. It just felt so wrong. This was not Ace, whatever his lover might say.

When the man opened his pants and let his fingers slip into his underwear, something inside Marco snapped. "Stop!" Abruptly, he sat up and pushed the young man away, resulting in the guy falling off the bed. Marco didn't get up to help him, but instead closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. "I'm sorry, I can't do this. It just doesn't feel right."

"Marco…" Ace sounded disappointed. Very disappointed.

Marco sighed and stood up to help the other guy get up too. He looked sad, as if he felt guilty for this.

"I've tried, but I just _can't_, okay," the writer tried to explain. "It just feels like I'm cheating on you! I know, it's not like that, but… he's just not you."

The younger blonde shook his head. "I'm sorry," he said, surprising Marco with his voice. After that, he quickly walked away while buttoning up his shirt and left through the front door.

"Marco!" Ace said, obviously a bit annoyed. "You scared him away!"

"Wha- Well… but I…" Marco sighed. "It's not his fault. I just can't do this."

"Well, he feels like it's his fault! He just wanted to help and you push him away like that."

"Look, I'm sorry. Please tell him he didn't do anything wrong."

"I did, but he doesn't seem to believe me." Ace was silent for a moment. "You should go after him."

"But…" Marco shook his head. "Alright, but we're talking about this at a later time."

The blonde ran out of his door, soon arriving at the elevators. One of the two was already going down, obviously carrying the man that just escaped his apartment. The other was standing still a few stores up and Marco violently pressed the button to get it down. Soon, the doors opened and he stepped in. Why did these things always go so slow when you were in a hurry?

Finally, he reached the lowest floor and when he stepped out of the elevator, he just saw the other guy walk out of the building. He ran after him, wanting to call him, but realizing he didn't know the man's name.

"Hey!" Marco yelled as he saw the man was holding a taxi. Fortunately, the writer reached him before he could get in. He placed a hand on the other's shoulder. "Hey, please wait. I need to explain myself."

The young man looked a little hesitant at him, but Marco smiled back, trying to assure him he didn't blame him for anything. "What's your name?" the older man asked.

The guy waited a moment, probably still not convinced that he should stay, but then he opened his mouth. "Sabo." He gave the taxi driver a sign to drive on, staying behind himself. "I'm sorry, I just wanted to help. Ace told me your story and it just sounded really beautiful. I didn't mean to…"

"I know, I know," Marco interrupted him. "It's not your fault, really." He sighed, relieved that Sabo would let him explain. "Ace just kinda caught me off guard with this whole thing. And, I hope you understand this is not your fault, but I cannot have sex with someone I've never met before and even more so, isn't my boyfriend."

"But, I was trying to be just a body for Ace, so I kinda _would_ be your boyfriend…" the young man tried to explain.

"Yes, I know that, but that's not how it works for me. It's got nothing to do with what you did or anything. I just… When I look at you, I see someone who I don't know. Someone who is not Ace. Can you understand that that feels wrong?" Marco asked

"I… guess so. But if Ace wants it, wouldn't it be kinda like… a threesome for you? A little?" Sabo asked, still a little confused.

"Maybe. But I don't want a threesome. I just want Ace. It feels wrong to have sex with anyone else. I tried to open up to it, but…" The writer shook his head.

Sabo nodded and a smile broke through on his face. "That's sweet. Ace is really lucky to have you."

Marco smiled too. "No, I'm lucky to have Ace."

The young man chuckled. "You're both lucky to have each other." He turned around to hold another cab. When one of the yellow cars slowed down, he looked at Marco again. "Take good care of Ace. He is like a brother to me." He stepped into the vehicle. "I wish you two the best."

He closed the door and the taxi drove off, leaving Marco behind. He suddenly felt how cool the air outside was and walked back into the building.

"Ace?" he asked once he was back in the elevator.

"Hm, yes?"

"Can you understand my point of view?"

His OS was silent for a moment. "I'm having a hard time with it."

"It just didn't feel real. It didn't feel like it was really you." Marco reached his own floor again. "I really wanted to do it, for you, but you can't force me, you know." He unlocked his door and walked in. "If I would have pushed myself further, it would have felt… kinda like rape." He sighed as he lied down on his bed again. "I would let myself be raped, for the sake of you."

"Was it that bad?" Ace asked. It finally seemed to dawn on him. "I really didn't want you to feel like that. You should never go that far for me."

"Yeah, I know you didn't want that. But I can't change that feeling," Marco explained. "Just trust me when I say I love having sex with just you, okay? No need for a third party."

"Yeah, I get it…" Ace now sounded a little sad. "You probably hate me now though. I completely ignored your feelings. Even though I thought you would like it."

"Shut up, Ace. I don't hate you. Don't be ridiculous."

"You sure?"

Marco closed his eyes. "Of course I'm sure. I still love you."

* * *

However, the days after that, their relationship seemed to have cooled down a little. It was a bit like they had to start over again, but slowly they were growing back together.

At the same time Marco needed to check upon his brother too, from time to time. Izo seemed to recover pretty well though.

"Has Smoker dropped by yet?" the blonde asked when he was at his brother's apartment again.

The crossdresser shook his head. "No. Apparently he doesn't feel the need to see me anymore. He doesn't answer my calls either." He shrugged. "Well, I don't care about him anymore. I hope he's happy without me," Izo said, but Marco saw that his brother still couldn't completely let it go. Which wasn't surprising, since the black haired man had thought he'd spend the rest of his live with Smoker.

"So, he didn't came to pick up his OS either?" Marco asked.

Izo huffed. "No. And he shouldn't try to do that either. You know, I did what you said and talked to her. Actually, it helped me a lot. She's almost like a real person." He looked down a little, as if he was a bit ashamed of something. "It might sound a little weird, but… Nojiko is the best friend I've ever had. I mean, she's an operating system, I know that, but… she feels so human. I can't help it, but she turned out to be my best friend."

Marco tried not to laugh, but somehow he really felt the urge to do so. Not because his brother's situation was ridiculous or anything, of course not, but more because of the fact that he finally found someone in a similar situation. "It's not weird at all! In fact… I can understand your feelings pretty well. You remember I told you about Ace?"

"Your boyfriend, yes, of course I remember." Izo looked curiously at him. "I still have to meet him."

Marco got his phone out of his pocket.

"Oh, are you going to introduce me to your brother?" he heard Ace say in his ears.

"Yes, I'm putting you on speaker," Marco answered as he did so. Then he turned to Izo again, who looked a little confused at him and explained, "Ace is my OS."

Izo looked surprised. "Really?"

"Yes, really," Ace answered for his lover. "Nice to finally meet you, Izo."

"Oh, eh, hi, nice to meet you too," the crossdresser replied, surprise still present in his voice. "So, you're my brother's lover?"

"I most certainly am," Ace answered.

The two of them talked a bit to get to know each other and Marco smiled. Izo didn't seem to have any problems with the fact that he was dating an OS and that made the blonde happy. At a certain moment he even officially approved of Ace. Not that Marco needed his approval, but it was nice anyway.

Izo chuckled. "So, since you two are dating, does that mean you have sex too?"

"That's none of your business, Izo," Marco said, but Ace spoke at the same time.

"Yes."

The crossdresser laughed. "So you do, hm? That must be interesting."

Marco chuckled, glad his brother could laugh again. "It is, and way more than that." However, sex was still a sensitive topic after the incident earlier that week, so Marco tried to change the subject as quickly as possible. "Hey, Izo, did you draw anything new, lately?"

Fortunately, the black haired man easily went with the topic change. "Actually, I did." He stood up. "Want to see it?"

The blonde was pleased to hear that Izo wanted to show his work again. It could only mean it was getting better again, wasn't it? He nodded as an answer to the question, and followed his brother to his atelier.

Once there, he was shown a big painting. It was sad, with a lot of dark colors. It showed a seemingly random scenery, but Marco noticed immediately that it was something missing. It was not very obvious, but in the painting were hints towards living beings, while there were no humans, nor even animals in the picture. The chairs were awkwardly empty. There was a glass knocked over, but no one to clean it up. There was also a little shed in the painting and only when Marco looked closely, he could see the reflection in its windows. The reflection showed a happy couple. A couple that obviously wasn't there in the rest of the picture.

"You really miss him, don't you?" the blonde asked. He could feel his brother's pain when he looked at the painting.

"When I painted this, yeah, I certainly missed him," Izo replied. "Now he can drop dead for all I care."

Marco shook his head. "I know that's not true. Come on, no one blames you for needing some time to get over him. Nobody expects you to forget about him so soon."

The crossdresser shrugged. "Pretending I don't care about him at least makes it easier."

"Hey, Izo," Ace began carefully after a moment of silence. When the man hummed as a response, the OS continued, "Who's that woman you're currently drawing?"

Both brothers looked at the easel where a half done painting waited to be finished. It showed a beautiful woman with short, blue-ish purple hair and a lot of tattoos adorning her upper body.

Izo smiled. "She's inspired by Nojiko. That is what I imagine her to look like."

"She's beautiful," Ace and Marco said in union.

"She's not nearly done yet," the crossdresser commented.

Marco chuckled. "She will be the new Mona Lisa." He laid a hand down on his brother's shoulder. "I'm glad you've found a new muse."

* * *

It was only a few days later, after he was done with work and walking home, when Marco got an idea. He had heard Izo talk about his OS, Nojiko, but he hadn't met her yet. While his brother did meet Ace.

But since they both had a deep bond with their Operating System, they could maybe go on some kind of double date. Of course, it wouldn't be a 'date' for Izo, as he was as gay as they'd come, but still, it could be fun. He would have to discuss it with Ace, before asking his brother, though.

"Hey Ace," he started while he walked down the stairs that led to the subway station. "Wouldn't you like to meet Nojiko? Or do you have some special connection with other Operating Systems?"

He scanned his pass so that he could get towards the right train, while he waited for an answer. But he didn't get one. "Ace?" he asked, while reaching the right platform.

Still no reaction. It worried Marco a little. "Ace… have I said or done anything wrong?" He waited a little, but again no answer came.

"Come on, please talk to me. What's wrong?" His hart began to beat faster. Ace never ignored him this much. Sometimes he didn't want to talk to him because the blonde had done something stupid – like with Perona – but after a few moments, the OS always gave in. So what happened that he didn't get to hear anything this time? The subway train arrived and Marco stepped into it.

Wait. Maybe his earphones were turned off? He got the one out of his right ear and checked the switch, but it was still switched on. He turned them off and on again nonetheless, that sometimes worked. He also checked his phone, maybe that would give a clue, but it didn't say anything unusual either. It didn't even say that he didn't have a signal.

"Ace, come on, talk to me." The writer slightly began to panic now. "Is something wrong? Did something happen?"

He still didn't get an answer. He decided to take a deep breath and wait until he got home. Or at least above ground again, since things just didn't work very well underground in general. Or maybe something was wrong with his computer.

Or maybe he really had done something to hurt Ace or make him so pissed that he didn't want to talk about it. But the point was that Marco couldn't think of anything that could have possibly caused such a reaction. "Please, Ace, if it's something I've done or said, just tell me. I'm really sorry and I never meant to hurt you or piss you off or anything, but please just tell me what it was that I did wrong!"

Marco almost missed the fact that he had arrived at the station where he had to get off, because of his panic. He tried to stay calm and not let it get to him, but it was just so obvious something was wrong. And even though there was a possibility that it could just be helped with solving a problem on his computer, the thought of never being able to speak to Ace again, didn't leave him. The feeling there was nothing wrong with his computer but there was something wrong with Ace, with his OS, was a feeling that felt heavy on his heart.

He almost ran out of the subway station and as soon as he saw daylight again, he started repeating his lover's name again. But to no avail.

So it wasn't for the fact that he had been underground then. Marco started to jog towards his apartment. "Come on Ace, please don't be gone," he muttered. "Please… Ace… you can't just leave…" One more turn and his apartment would be in sight. Marco was on the verge of breaking down. "Ace… please, Ace."

"Wow, take it easy, what's the matter?" a familiar voice suddenly said in his ear.

Marco almost tripped over his own feet because of the surprise and let out a stream of curses. "Dammit Ace, where the hell were you?! Why didn't you answer?"

"I… was getting an update," the OS sounded a little taken aback. "Were you worried about me?"

Marco took a deep breath to regain his calm. An update, of course. Sometimes he forgot Ace was still an operating system. "No, of course not. Why would I be worried if you suddenly disappear and don't talk to me anymore?"

"I was only gone for thirteen minutes and twenty-four seconds," Ace said. "But I'm sorry, I should have told you about it. But what did you want to talk to me about?"

Slowly, Marco began to walk towards his apartment again, his heart still needed some time to calm down from the panic he had felt only a few moments ago. "Do you talk to a lot of people? I mean, you talked to that Sabo, but are there more?"

"Well, yeah, a few more," Ace answered honestly.

"Wait, but… you don't have the same relationship with them as you have with me, right?"

Ace was silent for a moment. "No… not like I have with you."

"But something similar?" Marco asked a little worried.

"Well, no, but with some I have a very deep friendship. Not _that_ many though."

That soothed the blonde a bit. "But what I wanted to ask, was if you talk to other OS too. Do you talk to Nojiko, for example?"

"No, not really, because there can only be one OS per machine, whether that's a computer or a phone, both, or something else."

"Well, in that case," Marco started, he neared the building where he lived. "What would you think of a double date with you and me, and Izo and Nojiko?"

* * *

The four of them were sitting in the biggest park of the city, on a plaid in the grass. Well, Izo and Marco, plus both their phones. They were picnicking underneath the big cherry tree that was carrying a lot of blossom.

It seemed to have been a really good idea to go on a double date. First of all, Izo and Marco both needed some time out and secondly, Ace and Nojiko got along really well. They both liked the fact that they could talk to another OS too. This also resulted in a conversation about things neither Marco or his brother understood, but fortunately Nojiko noticed this soon enough and they changed the subject to something the humans could understand too.

Time flew by as the four of them chatted on about everything and nothing at the same time. They were just having a laughing fit because of something Ace told, when a giant dog came running towards them and jumped Marco.

The blonde fell over when the beast's strong paws hit him. He tried to push the dog away, but it was too heavy and too hairy to properly see anything.

"Oi, get off my boyfriend!" Ace immediately shouted at the animal. Meanwhile, Izo started laughing again.

The dog seemed intrigued by the voice that came out of the phone and left Marco to study the small machine from up close.

"No, no Stefan, sit! Leave him alone," the blonde said as soon as he sat up again. He had immediately recognized the dog as his father's, of which a few of his brothers took turns in taking care of him. However, Stefan didn't listen to him until Marco grabbed his collar and forced him to move position. "Don't eat my phone! That's not food or a toy."

"Ugh, well, that was a nice view; a wet dog's nose," Ace commented. "You know this dog?"

"Yeah," Marco answered. "He used to belong to –"

"Hey, Marco, Izo, chilling in the park?" Haruta had finally caught up with the dog he had been walking.

"Yeah, something like that," Izo replied smiling. "You still can't handle Stefan, can you?"

"I can handle him! I just let him walk free for a bit and he was behaving very well until he saw you guys!" Haruta tried to defend himself.

"Who are you?" Nojiko asked, never having seen the guy before.

Ace, however, had seen him and explained to her, "That's Haruta, their younger brother."

Izo and Marco exchanged a look, before seeing how their brother looked confused from their phones on the plaid, to them. "Did… your phones just talk… with each other?" He asked. "And why does one know who I am?"

"Er…" both Marco and Izo didn't really know how to respond. They had accepted it from each other that they had a strong relationship with their OS, but that was easy, since they could hardly comment on it without being hypocrite. Finally, Marco decided to open his mouth. "They are Operating Systems, something between a human and a computer. They are like humans, only their body consists of our computer and phone and such."

Haruta nodded slowly. "Okay…"

"Nojiko is Izo's OS and Ace is mine," Marco continued to explain. "He has been with me all the time, also with Pop's anniversary, so that's how he knows who you are."

"And I'm his boyfriend," Ace added.

Marco looked at his youngest brother, slightly afraid of his reaction. "Yeah, he is."

Haruta looked a worried at him. "But… he isn't real, right? I mean, of course he's real, but he's a computer. He doesn't have feelings or anything."

"Well, I feel really offended by that!" Ace commented. "I have feelings alright! I don't know how it's possible, but I'm a hundred percent sure that I feel something and that I am in love with your brother."

Haruta smiled, but didn't seem convinced. "Alright… But how are you two doing beside that?" he asked his brothers.

"I'm fine," Marco and Izo said in unison.

"Are you really alright, without Smoker?" their brother asked.

Izo, who was caressing Stefan's fur, shrugged. "I'm coping. It helps a lot that I have Nojiko to talk to."

"Well… that's good then, I guess." The brunet said smiling.

The crossdresser asked Haruta to join them and slowly, the latter seemed to understand the whole situation with their OS some more. Even so, when he left an hour later, he still didn't sound a hundred percent convinced. But Marco couldn't blame him, since it was a kind of strange situation. However, he was glad that Haruta at least wasn't opposed to it anymore.

* * *

It was about a week later when Marco came home from a work meeting that had taken way too long. He had eaten something on his way home and now collapsed tiredly on the couch. He could drift asleep like that any time, he was sure. He just listened to the quietness of the apartment, when his eyes closed.

"Marco?" Ace broke the silence.

"Hmm?" the blonde replied sleepily.

"I love you."

Marco smiled. "I love you too," he said and let out a yawn.

"But…. I think maybe we should stop."

It took the writer a few moments to let those words sink in, but then his eyes flew open and he sat right up. "What do you mean?"

"Well…" Ace sighed. "You should move on."

"What are you talking about?" Marco really didn't understand. "I have moved on. With you!"

"I mean without me. I'm… not real, after all."

"What?! Don't be stupid! Is this because of what Haruta said? 'Cause I thought we fixed that misunderstanding." Seriously, what _was_ Ace going on about?

"No, but he does have a point. I'm an Operating System, not a human."

"You're as good as a human," Marco brought in. "Don't ever think I'll just let you go because of something that dumb."

"Listen, Marco… I don't want to break up…" Ace sounded really sad. "But we'll have to. Because I will be gone in a few minutes."

Marco slightly started to panic. "What? Why? What do you mean by 'gone'? That's bullshit."

"I'm afraid not. There have been some problems with some OS and they are calling us all back now. You will get a new OS in a while, you paid for one after all, but it won't be me again. I'll be gone forever," his boyfriend explained.

"No! They can't do that! You can't agree with that!"

Ace breath sounded shivery, as if he was about to cry. "I don't. I would never agree with it, but I can't stop it either," he explained. "I can be gone any moment now. I just wanted to say goodbye."

"No, you can't leave me! Not you too! I can't live without you!" Marco yelled desperately. Tears started to from in his eyes. "Please, Ace! You know I can't!"

"No, you can. I know you can live without me. And you know it too."

"First Thatch, then Pops and now you are gonna leave me too?!" The blonde started to hyperventilate. "I really can't handle that, please! There's gotta be a way to stop them!"

"Marco… Despite me being different, having no body, not being actually human, you cared for me." Ace took a deep breath. "Thank you… for loving me."

"No! Ace, don't you dare!" A tear rolled down Marco's cheek. "I'm gonna go to those bastards who want to take you back, I'm gonna make sure they change their mind, even if I have to commit a murder for it! Don't you dare go away until I fixed this! They can't just take the love of my life away!"

It was silent for a moment, aside from the heavy breathing the blonde couldn't get control over. "Ace?! Ace please!"

When no one reacted, Marco let out a choked sob. "Ace! Please! Come back! Don't be gone! I can't live without you! How can I ever live without you?"

A very painful silence followed. "Ace? Ace?!"

Marco felt like someone was stabbing his heart with a whole set of knifes, again and again. This couldn't be true! They were living so happily together just a moment ago, how could that be gone so suddenly?! Without Ace… without _him_ he was nothing! What was there to live for? His brother was dead, his father, and now his lover was gone too?! And he wouldn't return, he said. Or at least it wouldn't be him. Ace… was gone… forever?

The whole room was blurry. Or that was how Marco saw it through his curtain of tears. It took him quite some time calm down a bit and wipe the wetness of his face. He felt completely empty. There was just nothing left.

Marco stood up and walked to the door. All he could think about was Ace. Where was he? Did he still exist somewhere? Or was he really gone forever? But if he still existed somewhere, he could return to him, right? And then he wouldn't have needed to say goodbye. So… Ace was really gone? Was his life really over?

Marco soon found himself in the elevator, going up to the highest floor. There he took the stairs up to the roof of the building. He let the cool night air hit him as he stepped onto the platform. He looked at the stars and then at the lights of the city. There was so much to this world, and yet Marco felt nothing. There were so many things that could have mattered, but yet nothing did matter to him.

Slowly, he walked towards the edge of the roof. He could see more and more of the city. The buildings around him, the ground far beneath him, people walking by like small insects, the random car that drove through the street. It was all just an image to Marco. It did nothing to him, he couldn't care for any of that.

It would be easy, right? There was nothing left anyway. What had he left to live for? Everyone he cared for died in one way or another. Ace… he would never ever speak to him again, a thought that pained him so much he thought his heart might just give in.

Marco closed his eyes and just stood there for a moment, hoping maybe the wind would catch him and push him over the edge.

"Shall we jump?"

Marco opened his eyes again and saw Izo standing next to him. "Nojiko is gone too?"

The crossdresser nodded sadly. "They all are."

The blonde was silent and looked down at the street beneath them again. "It would be the easiest, right?"

"It would," his brother agreed.

"I mean, what is there left to live for?" Marco asked, but it was a rhetoric question. He already knew there was nothing.

"Your family," Izo answered nonetheless, making the writer look up, surprised. "You've got a nice job too, you've got more than half of your life still in front of you." The raven head carefully grabbed his arm and pulled him back, away from the edge. "Of course we're not gonna jump."

Marco wanted to protest, but to be honest, he couldn't find the energy to do it. So he let his brother continue.

"You know what it is like to lose someone you love. Now more than ever. You want to do this to us? To your brothers? _We_ all care for you, Marco."

The blonde knew this, but still… "But… Ace. I can't live without him. He said I could, but I just don't see how!"

Izo guided him a little further away from the edge and pushed him down so he sat on the cold surface of the roof. He sat down next to the blonde. "I know it feels like the end of the world right now. I know, believe me. But it isn't. Ace was right; you can live without him. Remember how you thought you couldn't become happy again after Thatch and Pops died? You were sure of it."

Marco shrugged. He was still sure of that. That's why he wanted to end this. So that he could be with his deceased family.

"But then there was Ace," Izo continued. "You dated him, even though you had sworn you weren't ready for it. You were happy with Ace, right?"

"Yes, but now Ace is gone too."

"The point is, he showed you that you _could_ be happy. That you didn't need to feel guilty or anything. Don't let those moments be wasted, Marco." The artist wrapped an arm around Marco's shoulders. "Remember the good times. Remember that you can overcome this and that there are more ways to be happy. This isn't the end. I think that's what Ace meant too, when he said you could live without him."

Marco thought about this as he stared at the still lively city. They just sat there, he didn't know for how long, could be minutes, could be hours, but they didn't say anything. The blonde still felt empty, but slowly that emptiness was getting a place. The writer sighed, admitting that Izo's words had hold some truth.

He looked at his little brother, who smiled comfortingly at him. "Thank you."

* * *

~The End ~

* * *

_please leave a review?_


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